OSCL gearing for participation in Guyana Softball Cup

published by ikhan on Tue, 04/08/2014 - 13:14

Guyana Chronicle article.

TORONTO, Canada – Long-standing executive of the Ontario Softball Cricket League (OSCL) Albert Ramcharran has been returned unopposed as president when the entity held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) here recently.

Ramcharran, whose scholarly running of the OSCL over the last two years has been exemplary, is credited as being one of the stalwart and founding-members of the body which was formed in 1996.

Among his first disclosures was the OSCL’s intended participation in the fourth edition of the Guyana Softball Cup to be contested later this year in Guyana. According to Ramcharran, the OSCL plans to also compete in the Masters version of the tournament after taking part only in the Open League in 2013.

Ramcharran had high praise for the host, the Guyana Floodlight Softball Cricket League (GFSCA) following its successful staging of the tournament last year and was one of several executives accompanying the OSCL squad to the tournament.

Terry Mathura, who also served as player and official during the Guyana trip, retained his vice-presidency position while Sheri Mohammed is the new secretary, replacing Avi Singh, who resigned before completing his term last year. Mohammed previously held the assistant Statistician/Registrar post.

The treasurer remains Kim Sue, daughter of the late Norman Sue, a long-standing sponsor of the OSCL and owner of the popular Norman Sue Bakery. The elder Sue passed away late last year. Bobby Ramlagan was re-elected as assistant secretary/treasurer.

The Statistician/Registrar position was retained by Patrick Shivrattan while former Guyana Times journalist Ravendra Madholall, who is a newcomer to the organisation, is the new Public Relations Officer/Webmaster, replacing Shiv Persaud..

Mathura is also chairman for the Disciplinary Committee while Ramlagan is the secretary. Considered as one of the livewires of the OSCL, Vish Jadunauth is still the East End Coordinator while West End Coordinator Ryan Bhup did not seek re-election. His successor is to be named shortly.

The three new Disciplinary Committee members are: Krisho Singh, Pooran Roopchand and Sheryl Patram.

Among the rule changes adopted at the meeting, following some amendments to the constitution were: Players’ immediate suspension for bowling deemed to be “pelting” in the opinion of the umpires and teams being penalised for slow over rates.

A confident Ramcharran expressed his belief that the league will surpass its performance of the previous year with the full backing of his members.

Expressing thanks to his executives, the president alluded to the fact that the OSCL was run in a professional manner and also praised the members of the disciplinary committee for their fine efforts,

According to Ramcharran, the league dealt with 12 complaints over the last year, resulting in players being suspended while some were placed on probation. The resultant effect meant the league collected over Cdn$1 000 in fines, the most for any year.

The president condemned the use of alcohol at match venues, following the completion of games, pointing out that the league intends to take a strong stance against the practice, since it faces the prospect of its permits being taken away from the venues where the drinking takes place.

The OSCL had plans to introduce white balls to its competitions this year but the idea has been put on hold and will revert to the Supreme balls for all versions – 20-, 15- and 10-over tournaments. The decision to change the ball was based on the fact that the white balls are being used in the Guyana Softball Cup and are being seen as a disadvantage to the Canadian teams.

Apart from Ramcharran, the other founding-member of the OSCL is Jadunauth, who, along with the other executives, pledged full support to the president. The first statutory meeting of the league was scheduled for March month-end.